Bridging the Divide

Never doubt the Foster Factor

Keefe

Keefe looked towards the ceiling, waiting for Sophie to reach her mind out to his like she had for every night the past three weeks. A presence in the back of his mind made him wonder if she was there, and he thought, Sophie?

Yup. Sorry if you were waiting for long. I don't know how you put up with Ro.

Ro?

Yup. Since you're... wherever you are, and Ro doesn't want to talk to her dad, she decided she was going to fill in for Bo guarding me. Apparently she wants to prove she's better than him. Honestly, I feel a bit like the rope in a game of tug-of-war. At least Ro is funner than Bo, though.

Yeah. Honestly, I'm glad you have her. Is... she still mad at me?

OHHHH, yeah. She said she would wait till you come back, then make your life miserable. Also to tell you that you know which of your secrets she's going to spill first. She is most definitely strange.

He knew what the ogre had meant, and he was DEFINITELY not excited for the epic punishment Ro was threatening. You can't deny that you're strange too, Foster!

True. But I don't turn everything into a bet like she does. She misses you in that aspect.

Aren't I on a prank ban?

You can't make trouble for anyone who isn't a friend, but I'm pretty sure Ro falls into the 'friend' category.

How is Sandor dealing?

He's adapting.

How are you doing?

Slightly itchy, headache, tired, but overall pretty well. Also, stop distracting me, Keefe. I was going to ask you how the techniques I showed you are working!

Aww... I was enjoying hearing what was going on! It's honestly pretty great, Foster.

Good. I was hoping you were still okay. The human world can be dangerous. Which reminds me, I should also ask if you're feeling any culture shock. Humans are really different.

I'm FINE, Foster.

Okay then... I had another great idea right when we disconnected. What if your empathy could stretch over telepathy?

I assume you picked empathy because the emotiony mind control thing is creepy?

You're... not entirely wrong. Also you're more comfortable with the empathy, and Polyglot works automatically, so... yeah.

Okay. Any tips?

Honestly, this is something I haven't even tried yet. I was actually going to try inflicting on you from here, but I wanted to ask for permission first.

Thanks. Go ahead whenever you're ready!

A wave of inexplicable laughter washed over Keefe a few seconds later and he had to struggle to not make a noise.A few seconds later, Sophie transmitted Did it work?

Yup! I never doubted you, Foster!

Okay, so I just imagined using it exactly like a transmission, except the inflicting being the transmission, and that made more sense before I transmitted it.

I think I know what you mean. Can I try now?

Go ahead, Keefe.

Keefe knew that last time he had come into contact with Sophie, the ability detector told him she didn't have any more abilities, but the thing Foster had said about being itchy sounded like how some Phasers described manifesting. So, he flicked the ability detector on, then sent a burst of the weird energy into his mind towards Foster. He knew it had worked when he got this crawly, itchy feeling like he wasn't fitting in his own skin, except around his hands only. If she was feeling this all over... Sophie, you really don't need to play it down. A little bit itchy? It's awful!

Okay, fine. I take it the empathy worked then. I probably need to go now. See you later, Keefe.

He thought at her, Good night, Foster, but she was already gone. Love you.

He was done lying to himself. He was in love with Sophie, and had been ever since he met her, and when she had met his dad, and when she had disappeared, and a thousand million times more.

Sophie

Sophie scratched at her arm. Why was she so itchy? Iggy flew up to her shoulder and nuzzled her cheek.

"Itchy-bugs biting?"

Sophie shook her head and whispered to Iggy "Not itchy-bugs or rash. Like fur falling out, more."

It was the closest way to explain the feeling of being the wrong size for her skin in the imp language.

Iggy hopped onto her lap and fixed her with a watery-eyed stare. "Sophie-friend doesn't have fur. Why doesn't Sophie friend get help from healy-friend?"

Sophie slid down onto her elbows so she was eye level with Iggy. "Not as simple as that, Iggs," she replied. "Unfortunately, imps have it way easier. Wish I could just fly around and eat random things I'm not supposed to, but..." Sophie imagined being an imp, and not having to worry about anything. Imp her would actually be kinda cute. Sophie was imagining being a mermaid-striped fluffy ball of fur, then her thoughts were interrupted by a sneeze. She blinked and looked around. Somehow, the room looked even bigger than normal.

What was going on?

A delighted squeak drew her attention to Iggy, who was now taller than her.

"Great," she grumbled. "I guess I CAN be an imp. We keep this new ability secret, Iggy."

Iggy agreed readily, and it only took Sophie a few seconds to shift back, smiling when she no longer had fur but her fuzzy purple onesie. Thinking, she locked Iggy in his cage. She would most definitely not share this ability if she could help it. The Neverseen had ways of finding things out. Also, she was pretty sure this was a very unplanned power. If they had planned it, they would have tried to prepare her, and although she tried to think of any words that would have to do with shapeshifting, no new memories popped into her head.

This was just too freaky. What was one more secret?

Ok so I'm trying not to make Sophie too OP but I really like the idea that her Alicorn blood would let her shapeshift... or maybe the Black Swan added more creatures but lied about it when they saw how freaked Sophie was about her eyes...

:D